2025 IN REVIEW

A year of ups and downs I guess

With another year quickly moving away in the rear-view mirror (I can drive now, so I’m allowed to use driving analogies), I thought it would be good/insightful/inspiring to do a proper YEAR-IN-REVIEW. So here we go!

CHIP’S 2025 YEAR-IN-REVIEW

JANUARY

•The DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN trailer comes out and I’m shocked, shocked I say, to notice that the character Cole North is in the show, a character lovingly created by myself and the beautiful Marco Checchetto. I’m finally going to be rich!!!

•My wife, Janice, announces she’s been sleeping with her Pilates instructor, Miguel. I didn’t know she was taking Pilates, so I ask her if it’s similar to yoga. She tells me she’s not my ChatGPT. I ask her what ChatGPT is, and she tells me she’s not my Google, but explains it anyway. I rush to my studio to begin using it for my scripts.

FEBRUARY

PUBLIC DOMAIN VOL 2 comes out and everyone immediately asks “where’s volume three” smh

•My final issue of BATMAN comes out and everyone’s like “where’s volume—ha ha we’re kidding, thank god you’re done”

•I’m literally on the runway when a plane lands upside down at Pearson airport.

•Miguel moves in. I have to sit down my beautiful sons Chad (6), Charles (8), Chip Jr (11), Chucky (14) and Champ (30) to explain the situation. It quickly becomes evident that I’m the one who is having difficulty understanding the situation and Chucky helpfully explains polyamory to me and that I need to practice “comperssion” for their mother and that she’s now identifying as “sapiosexual” so maybe I should read more books that don’t have pictures in them if I want to continue to be “fluid bonded” with her.

•I give an incendiary speech at ComicsPro 2025, changing some names and occupations to avoid legal problems. Retailers slash their orders for ZCN.

MARCH

•I’m announced on CAPTAIN AMERICA and nobody tries to kill me. Miguel keeps insisting he’ll “protect me.” I believe him. He’s incredibly strong.

•Attended a Marvel Summit in NYC. Gerry Duggan pitches a “Spiderman 2099” book, where “Miguel goes places he shouldn’t” and I start to cry in the room and have to excuse myself.

•Attended the DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN premiere but when Daredevil started beating people up I walked out, shouting “that’s not how you solve problems!” They still let me into the after-party, where I drank a bunch of cocktails called “Hell’s Kitchen Sink”s and whispered, “this is how I solve problems.” Got a picture with two Charlies.

And then had a photo on the red carpet with my fly open.

APRIL

•Turns out Miguel is a big Daredevil fan, so we started to have “Daredevil nights” when new episodes drop, just the two of us and a big tub of popcorn and a few beers. It’s really nice. No girls allowed lol!

•I watch Cole North get blown up in Episode 9 and am inconsolable. No spin-offs, no Avengers: Doomsday cameos, no ancillary payments from Disney. It’s all over. Miguel holds me tight and comforts me. He smells like cedar and my wife.

•A big announcement as STILLWATER is getting adapted into a series at Amazon. I immediately buy a mansion to house my growing family as Miguel’s parents and siblings are also moving in.

MAY

•ZCN is nominated for an Eisner Award. I buy a second mansion.

•Marvel and DC announce that I’ll be working on their big crossover, and my script leaks.

•Miguel and I make love.

JUNE

•June is a bit of a blur.

JULY

•I attend the premiere of FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS with fellow Canadian comic creator Ryan North and our lovely wives. Ryan and I meet Kevin Feige and later on I make love to my wife in our hotel room but we’re both thinking about Miguel and crying.

•ZCN loses the Eisner Award to Heidi MacDonald and “The Beat” and the bank forecloses on my second mansion.

AUGUST

•My story with Terry and Rachel Dodson appears in the Marvel/DC crossover and features Hitler blowing his brains out.

SEPTEMBER

•I attend yet another Marvel Summit in NYC. I’m in a foul mood thinking about my home situation so begin lashing out at others. At one point I say that “I could beat up any of the X-Men no problem” and that “Cyclops’s secondary mutation is being a pussy.” HR swiftly writes me up for my use of “gendered insults” in the office but I tell them that it means something else in Canada and is actually considered a really nice compliment. They believe me, so I leave for the day saying, “I hope all you pussies have a lovely evening” and they thank me.

•WHITE HOUSE ROBOT ROMANCE #1 comes out and it’s pretty good imo

•Miguel decides to move out with his family. I’m crushed. So is my wife. We both ask him why, beg him for some answers. He says we’re “bad at sex” and also “a little clingy.” Charles (8) and Chip Jr (11) decide to leave with him because he has a PS5. I keep telling them that their PS4 is still very much a culturally relevant system, especially since we upgraded its internal hard drive to a Solid State Drive (SSD) but they’re not having it.

OCTOBER

•I announce the end of ZCN and the news immediately makes waves.

•Distraught from Miguel leaving with, IIRC, two of my sons, I get back to basics and start a project where I recreate classic covers with old-school brush and ink.

NOVEMBER

•I do a European tour, to get away from the problems at home, but everywhere I look I’m reminded of Miguel.

•Marvel teases AVENGERS: ARMAGEDDON, which I’m “writing.” I send in the first script, which was generated by ChatGPT, and they’re a little confused. Apparently it’s exactly the same as the 1998 Bruce Willis movie “Armageddon,” but instead of deep-core drillers it’s the Avengers and instead of an asteroid they’re blowing up “The Source Ball,” which is The Source Wall but in ball form. It’s a DC property so they’re really not pleased at all. Back to the drawing board!

DECEMBER

•I announce a special screening of CAPTAIN AMERICA (1990) here in Toronto and, guess what? Tickets are almost gone!! So if you want to come, get your tickets right now!

•Janice has started taking Crossfit classes to get her mind off of Miguel and announces that she’s no longer “sapiosexual,” which is interesting to me because her Crossfit instructor, Sandra, is dumb as shit.

•Once again, I’ve turned to my art.

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Love,
Chip!

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UPCOMING BOOKS
CAPTAIN AMERICA #6 — Jan 21
WOLVERINE: WEAPONS OF ARMAGEDDON #1 — Feb 18
CAPTAIN AMERICA #7 — Feb 18
CAPTAIN AMERICA #8 — March 4
WOLVERINE: WEAPONS OF ARMAGEDDON #2 — Feb 25
WHITE HOUSE ROBOT ROMANCE HC — April 21
BATMAN BY CHIP ZDARSKY VOL 1 — April 28
BATMAN: URBAN LEGENDS OMNIBUS VOL 1 — May 26

UPCOMING APPEARANCES
CAPTAIN AMERICA (1990) SCREENING! — Jan 24